Seven-foot basketball players won’t fit in most sports cars. Therefore, players of that size shouldn’t be driven like a Lamborghini. They’re more of a locomotive.

Xavier University is hoping 7-0, 275-pound Kenny Frease has a few more tournament wins left in the tracks.

After losing the Atlantic-10 Tournament championship game to St. Bonaventure, Xavier made it to the NCAA Tournament and will play Notre Dame on Friday night at 9:45 in Greensboro, N.C. The Musketeers — and Frease in particular — have had an interesting season since a brawl against Cincinnati in December.

Xavier won four of its last five games to finish strong and get into the A-10 title game. Frease played well in wins over Richmond, Charlotte and Dayton to end the season. He averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds in those games, nearly twice his season points per-game average (9.5).

“He’s a huge part of why we win,” Xavier head coach Chris Mack said. “It was probably more so than it’s ever been in the A-10 tournament. He plays extremely well Friday, he plays well on Saturday and he doesn’t play particularly well Sunday. In fairness, the guy is 7 feet, 275 pounds. To play 30 minutes, 30 minutes and 30 minutes on three consecutive days probably isn’t to his strength.

“It has nothing to do with bashing Kenny for not playing well. It’s hard for him to go that many days in a row. His play down the stretch the last four weeks or so has been a difference in our team. We need him to play that way no matter who our opponent is.”

Frease came out of the St. Bonaventure game with 14:07 left in the first half. The pace at the time wasn’t particularly fast and Frease didn’t appear winded. When he left the game, Xavier was down 7-5. By the time he returned, with 11:53 left, it was down 17-7.

xavier TRADITION

Xavier’s NCAA berth is its 11th in the last 12 years and seventh in a row. It is one of eight teams in the country to qualify to the tournament seven straight years.

“It’s been Xavier tradition ... it was a way of life when I got to school here,” Frease said. “It’s not an easy thing to do to make it to the tournament all four years.”

This hasn’t been an easy season. Xavier, and Frease in particular, were thrust into the national spotlight after the December brawl where Cincinnati’s Yancy Gates sucker-punched Frease in the left eye. It left a gash and a nasty black eye.

Several suspensions were handed out. Frease was not suspended. He never threw a punch.

“Personally, and as a team, there has been adversity to overcome,” Frease said. “In past years, there have been things like injuries, every teams deals with those. This year there were some things we had to deal with above and beyond what you have to deal with. Fortunately we put ourselves in a position to make the tournament and we’re moving on from here.”

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Making the NCAA Tournament brought a brief sense of relief.

“I don’t think just making the tournament is what this team set out to do,” Frease said. “Advancing in the tournament is something we want to do.”

Frease, who has drawn some interest from NBA scouts and likely will have professional opportunities, has had time to recharge. He will play with four days rest against Notre Dame, and probably need all of it.

The Irish’s Jack Cooley goes 6-9, 248 and is an offensive rebounding machine.

“I was under the impression Luke Harangody graduated,” Mack said. “I thought he was in the NBA. This Cooley kid is carved out of a block of ice. He’s a cave man in there. He throws elbows and goes to work. ... He is a one-man wrecking crew inside. He has 128 offensive rebounds. The next closest guy has 30. That’s probably because he steals them from everybody.”